The deadline for applications is 4:00 pm on April 9, 2026. 

Proposals must be submitted electronically to Susan Metzger, KWI director, by email (smetzger@ksu.edu). For additional information, contact Susan Metzger at (smetzger@ksu.edu). 

Each Principal Investigator (PI) is limited to submitting ONE proposal. Each co-PI may submit up to TWO proposals.  

Funding Information: 

Proposals should be for projects up to 24 months in duration. (Proposals may be for less than 2 years). Proposal budgets can request no more than $50,000 ($25,000 per year) in federal funding. No carryover of funds will be permitted between each year of the two-year award. No indirect costs are allowed. 

A 1:1 match of non-federal to federal dollars is required. Federal dollars may not be used for matching funds. Indirect costs are not allowed in the federal cost category (Public Law 101-397, Water Research Institutes Authorization). However, indirect costs may be used to fulfill the matching requirement: i.e., you may show the indirect costs computed for federal funds as part of the non-federal match, and indirect costs are allowed on the non-federal funds.  

Project funding is contingent on Congressional appropriation of Water Resources Research Institute Program funds.  

The proposal process will follow this schedule: 

March 2, 2026 – Post call for Proposals 

April 9, 2026 – Full proposals due 

May 1, 2026 – KWI award notification 

The deadline for submitting proposals is April 9, 2026.   Proposals must be submitted by email to Susan Metzger (smetzger@ksu.edu) as a Word or PDF file. Please follow the proposal instructions provided below. Proposals are limited to six pages. 

Project proposals will be reviewed by the Kansas Water Institute Advisory Council. The following review criteria will be used to select proposals for funding:  

1. Scientific merit of the proposed project (25%).
2. Plans/potential for refereed publications (25%).
3. Justification and need of the research in context of the Kansas Water Plan (20%).
4. Plan for graduate/undergraduate training (20%).
5. Plan for application/knowledge transfer to stakeholders (10%).

PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

The following instructions are provided to aid in the preparation of project proposals. Proposals must not exceed a total of 6 pages. Budget and references cited are not included in the 6-page maximum. Please use 1-inch margins and at least 11-point font size. 

• Project title
• Principal investigator(s), institution and address, email, and telephone number
• Project goals and objectives 
• Introduction with project justification and literature review   
• Procedures: A description of the investigations and/or experiments proposed. Please include duration of the project and methods of technology transfer.    
• Expected outcome: Provide a brief description of the expected outcomes of the proposed research project.  
• Qualifications of investigators: A summary (1-2 paragraphs) is sufficient for this part of the proposal. 
• Literature cited 
• Budget: A detailed budget is required. A 1:1 match of non-federal to federal dollars is required and must be shown on the submitted project. An annual budget as well as an overall summary budget is required. Budgets must include details such as specific conference attendance, vendor estimates for equipment, and service costs, including sample analysis. Travel budgets should not exceed 3% of your budgeted expenses. While KWI awards two-year projects, funds must be budgeted, reported, and expended within each year. No carryover of funds will be permitted between each year of the two-year award. No indirect costs are allowed. 
• Additional materials required (not part of the 6-page limit): A 2-page vita is required for all investigators listed on the project.                  

 Additional information: Projects selected and funded through this call agree to adhere to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum regarding public access. (OSTP Memo August 25, 2022).